1. Field of the Invention
The present invention deals with the field of packer grids which are employed in packaging machines to conduct and guide bottles into crates or cartons positioned therebelow. It is desirable to place these bottles in a predetermined arrangement to match the array of the bottle receiving carton or crate and as such the present invention provides a new and novel way for achieving this desired end.
Generally a packer grid embodies members arranged in crossed relationships to form an array of bottle guiding channels and is provided with some type of means for maintaining this accurate relative orientation. Also a means must be provided to retard the movement of bottles as they pass through the grid since the bottles if moving too fastly could be damaged. In this field the members which slow down the movement of the bottles sometimes tend to wear and may become broken or bent in such a way as to engage dividers in the crate or carton causing injury to the carton or bottles. This problem presents special difficulties when cartons are formed of light cardboard or other flexible material and as such the present invention provides a means for not only slowing the speed of the downward movement of the bottles but also a means for accurately positioning the bottles such that no damage is done to the bottles themselves or to the carton or crate positioned therebelow for receiving the bottles. Of course the present invention could be usable with any similar type of articles which need be placed into a horizontal array for movement or placement. 2. Description of the Prior Art
Packer grids are usable in packaging the machines especially for use with bottles such as those best shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,701,015; 2,727,664 and 2,753,673. Other more recently issued patents dealing with this field of art include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,922,836; 3,911,647 and 3,788,034 as well as 3,031,820 issued May 1, 1962 to Wild and Schulze.
Of particular importance is U.S. Pat. No. 3,271,928 issued to the present inventor wherein another system is disclosed for detachably securing flexible fingers to a horizontally extending packer grid.
The present invention is distinguishable from this prior art as well as the present inventor's previous U.S. Pat. No. 3,271,928 due to the ease of securement and detachment of the fingers to the grid assembly. The present invention is structurally different from the apparatus disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,271,928 and in that manner provides a much faster snap-in and snap-out arrangement for replacement of resilient guiding fingers in any packer grid.